The Bush administration wants to use nukes on terrorists. According to a draft [PDF] of their “Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations” which has been leaked to the internet, the US should aim to deter not just governments, but also “nonstate (non-government) actors” (terrorists), from using WMDs – and that
deterrence may be directed at states that support [terrorists’] efforts as well as the terrorist organization itself.
And if deterrence fails, “the United States must be prepared to use nuclear weapons if necessary”. So, if the ultimate nightmare happens, and a terrorist cell gets its hands on a black-market bomb and manages to detonate it, the US proposes to nuke some random country as revenge. The insanity of this policy, in a world where terrorists are actively trying to provoke a “war of civilisations” between Islam and the West, ought to be obvious to all.
As for the idea of deterring terrorist organisations, the logical flaw is right there in the Joint Chiefs’ own list of “what the opposing actor must believe” if deterrence is to be successful: that they have something left to lose. That works on governments, if you don’t back them into a corner – but on people willing to blow themselves up? Again, it is simply insanity to believe that people who are willing to die and who show no concern whatsoever for innocent lives can be deterred by threatening to kill them a million times over. It’s insanity to believe they can be deterred in any way whatsoever. Instead, you need to focus on finding and catching them – not on threatening to murder even more bystanders purely for revenge’s sake.
Idiot/Savant
No Right Turn – New Zealand’s liberal blog
